Hi Gang
As we all know Mother Nature can be unforgiving to errors in the
air. Alan Pratt who was an experienced pilot bought a Carat motor
glider about 4 months ago. This single place motor glider is one of the
most benign machines available. I flew the first in the US and gave it
a rave review.
Today set up as a typical wave day with a blue slot east of the Sierras
and the lennies setting up with rotor clouds about 5 miles east of the
Sierras. Alan spoke to friends and said he was going for a short flight
but without a parachute which he felt was unnecessary for this aircraft,
and without oxygen because his system had a leak. Alan had little or no
experience with the wave and the rotor associated with the wave.
Pieces of the glider fell over a wide area and Alan did not survive.
Apparently a wing came off and the glider disintegrated. What happened?
We can only surmise. The fact that the glider disintegrated suggests
that VNE (Never to Exceed speed) had been exceeded and that speeds
approaching 200 knots or more had been reached. How could this have
happened? Maybe he got trapped in the several layers of lennies and
just lost it. Hopefully he had his flight recorder on and that will give us
more information. I have had 2 bad experiences in the wave and have
survived it - through luck. Alan was not so lucky.
Please before flying in the wave, especially the Minden wave, get a
briefing and don't shortcut the parachute and oxygen. This really
disturbs me.
Dave